Hardware Proposal - please review

licht77 · Jan 22nd 2023

Hi folks,

after years of enjoying my setup i am more and more forced to upgrade to libreelec 10:

- first, a .265 HW support is getting more and more interesting

- second, Kodi Matrix instead of Lea because of NFL's Game Pass support (superbowl incoming)

My old/current setup:
- libreelec 9 on RPi4.

- APA102 Leds connected to that RPi4 via SPI

- main video source plex within kodi on that RPi4. Running HD@60 instead of 4k@30 because of hd quality of the source videos.

- external tv box as secondary video source. Running HD@50.

- 4k TV with HDR+

- soundbar via hdmi-arc plugged into the tv

99% of usage is watching HD videos via Plex -> Kodi. HDR is not used. 4k may be an option in future in combination with .265.

Secondary video source is a 4k tv box

Of course it is not acceptable leave out hyperion once you are used to ambilight.

That said i read into several threads and learned the reason why the internal grabber is gone as well as some developers. It seems reasonable to switch over to an external grabber solution.

Thats my proposed solution - please provide some feedback if possible:

Videosources:

- RPi4 running Libreelec 10 (Kodi Matrix). Running HD@60 (in future maybe 4k@60).

- TV box HD@50 (in future possible 4k@60)

Ambilight:

- APA102 LEDs connected to the RPi4 noted above (SPI)

Audio:

- Soundbar via HDMI to TV (HDMI-Arc port)

Splitter:

- FeinTech VMS02201 Matrix Switch Extractor

- RPi4 and TVBox feed both into that Splitter

- main output feeds into TV

- secondary output feeds into grabber

Grabber:

- https://www.amazon.de/dp/B09NQPBZTY?tag=hyperioforum-21&pd_rd_i=B09NQPBZTY&pd_rd_w=hihZF&content-id=amzn1.sym.f63cb723-41a5-4d60-97aa-9969c9663073&pf_rd_p=f63cb723-41a5-4d60-97aa-9969c9663073&pf_rd_r=4J7V18Z1Z0BQVCVPGJX8&pd_rd_wg=G8Csm&pd_rd_r=7b6c4c4e-cac2-4319-a5f1-a431d91a49b5&s=industrial&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9kZXRhaWw&th=1 (HDMI input from splitter, output via USB into RPi4)

Now my request: Do you see any show-stoppers in the hardware selection for my environment?

Any hints are highly appreciated,

kind regards licht77

pclin · Jan 22nd 2023

Should work

Tested and only 10€

USB > HDMI Video Grabber, 1080p

Mit diesem USB Grabber kann ein HDMI Gerät an einen USB Port angeschlossen werden. Der Grabber unterstützt Eingangsseitig Auflösungen…

www.berrybase.de

No fake USB3.0 and video standard MJPG and YUYV.

regards pclin

licht77 · Jan 26th 2023

Thanks! The Feintech-Switch does the switching-thingy and the capturing device works too.

There is like 400-500msec delay with the lowest settings (deactivating smoothing doesnt do the trick but is pretty disturbing).

The chipset of the lookalike capturecard is correct: Bus 001 Device 003: ID 534d:2109 MacroSilicon USB3. 0 capture

Pixel Format is set to YUYV - so everything pretty standard.

Code

2023-01-26T19:07:11.941Z [COMPONENTREG|Wohnzimmer_85x48] (DEBUG) (ComponentRegister.cpp:114:handleCompStateChangeRequest()) Enable Hyperion, recover previous component states
2023-01-26T19:07:11.942Z [COMPONENTREG|Wohnzimmer_85x48] (DEBUG) (ComponentRegister.cpp:82:setNewComponentState()) Hyperion: enabled
2023-01-26T19:07:11.942Z [COMPONENTREG|Wohnzimmer_85x48] (DEBUG) (ComponentRegister.cpp:82:setNewComponentState()) Smoothing: enabled
2023-01-26T19:07:11.942Z [COMPONENTREG|Wohnzimmer_85x48] (DEBUG) (ComponentRegister.cpp:82:setNewComponentState()) Blackborder detector: enabled
2023-01-26T19:07:11.942Z [MUXER|Wohnzimmer_85x48] (DEBUG) (PriorityMuxer.cpp:178:registerInput()) Register new input 'System/V4L' () with priority 240 as inactive
2023-01-26T19:07:11.942Z [COMPONENTREG|Wohnzimmer_85x48] (DEBUG) (ComponentRegister.cpp:82:setNewComponentState()) V4L capture device: enabled
2023-01-26T19:07:11.946Z [V4L2] (DEBUG) (V4L2Grabber.cpp:152:init()) Set device (path) to: USB3. 0 capture: USB3. 0 captur (/dev/video0)
2023-01-26T19:07:11.947Z [V4L2] (DEBUG) (V4L2Grabber.cpp:489:init_device()) Set device input to: Camera 1
2023-01-26T19:07:11.949Z [V4L2] (DEBUG) (V4L2Grabber.cpp:615:init_device()) Set resolution to width=640 height=480
2023-01-26T19:07:11.950Z [V4L2] (DEBUG) (V4L2Grabber.cpp:632:init_device()) Set framerate to 5 fps
2023-01-26T19:07:11.950Z [V4L2] (DEBUG) (V4L2Grabber.cpp:708:init_device()) Pixel format=YUYV
2023-01-26T19:07:11.955Z [V4L2] (INFO) Started
2023-01-26T19:07:11.955Z [V4L2] (DEBUG) (GrabberWrapper.cpp:62:start()) Grabber start()
2023-01-26T19:07:11.942Z [LEDDEVICE|Wohnzimmer_85x48] (DEBUG) (LedDevice.cpp:135:enable()) Enable device apa102'
2023-01-26T19:07:11.943Z [LEDDEVICE|Wohnzimmer_85x48] (INFO) Switching device apa102 ON
2023-01-26T19:07:11.943Z [LEDDEVICE|Wohnzimmer_85x48] (DEBUG) (LedDevice.cpp:485:powerOn()) Power On: apa102
2023-01-26T19:07:11.943Z [LEDDEVICE|Wohnzimmer_85x48] (INFO) Device apa102 is ON
2023-01-26T19:07:11.943Z [LEDDEVICE|Wohnzimmer_85x48] (INFO) LedDevice 'apa102' enabled
2023-01-26T19:07:11.943Z [COMPONENTREG|Wohnzimmer_85x48] (DEBUG) (ComponentRegister.cpp:82:setNewComponentState()) LED device: enabled
2023-01-26T19:07:12.554Z [MUXER|Wohnzimmer_85x48] (DEBUG) (PriorityMuxer.cpp:178:registerInput()) Register new input 'System/V4L' (V4L2) with priority 240 as inactive
2023-01-26T19:07:12.554Z [MUXER|Wohnzimmer_85x48] (DEBUG) (PriorityMuxer.cpp:422:updatePriorities()) Set visible priority to 240
2023-01-26T19:07:12.555Z [HYPERION|Wohnzimmer_85x48] (DEBUG) (Hyperion.cpp:637:handleSourceAvailability()) new source available -> Resume output processing and switch LED-Device on
2023-01-26T19:07:12.564Z [LEDDEVICE|Wohnzimmer_85x48] (DEBUG) (LedDevice.cpp:397:switchOn()) Device apa102 is already on. Skipping.

Display More

I guess i have to read through the forum a little bit... and maybe get another capturer.

Too bad there is no dummys guide "how to tweak delay"

pclin · Jan 26th 2023

MJPG is standard.

regards pclin

Ambient_theater77 · Jan 26th 2023

Quote from licht77

how to tweak delay

2023-01-26T19:07:11.947Z [V4L2] (DEBUG) (V4L2Grabber.cpp:489:init_device()) Set device input to: Camera 1
2023-01-26T19:07:11.949Z [V4L2] (DEBUG) (V4L2Grabber.cpp:615:init_device()) Set resolution to width=640 height=480
2023-01-26T19:07:11.950Z [V4L2] (DEBUG) (V4L2Grabber.cpp:632:init_device()) Set framerate to 5 fps
2023-01-26T19:07:11.950Z [V4L2] (DEBUG) (V4L2Grabber.cpp:708:init_device()) Pixel format=YUYV

switch to expert setting in Hyperion.

try to increase the resolution to 720p 1280x720

framerate to 25 FPS

size decimation low as possible ( in the neighbourhood of 2)

i runned APA102 also, set rewritetime on 6000ms

licht77 · Jan 28th 2023

That were the missing bits - thank you!

To sum it up for the next person with the same problem:

- get the hardware above

- install hyperion_ng

- configure leds etc

- set to "expert" settings

- MJPG instead of YUYV pixel format

- 720p 1280x720 and 25 frames

- size decimation to 2

And voila - no lag anymore

Participate now!